Alerts In Effect

Contact Us

Explore This Park

My Hawai‘i Story Contest 2015

The 25 winners of the 9th annual My Hawai'i Story Contest were announced today.The theme of this year's contest is, "Hanohano Hawai'i Kuauli: Celebrating Collaboration and Wisdom Across Hawaii's Ecosystems." The 2015 winners are:

Mahalo to all the participating students and teachers! Of special note, one of this year's winners, Kate Welch from Ho'ala School in Wahiawa, has been a winner 3 years in a row, since she was in 6th grade. Congratulations Kate!

My Hawai'i, is an annual environmental writing contest for middle school students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 from across the state. The top 25 poems and short stories were selected from more than 360 submissions and will be published in an anthology that is distributed to schools and libraries statewide. The students' writing represents personal reflections on the environment, cultural values, kuleana, stewardship, and place-based writing, and contributes to a collection of youth literature that is unique to Hawai'i. To date, 225 middle school students have had their stories and poems on the environment published! While academic testing provides a measure of content knowledge, creative writing can capture students' thoughts, passions, beliefs, and values.

The My Hawai'i Story Contest provides an educational approach that develops interdisciplinary thinkers. Many of the stories and poems include knowledge from diverse backgrounds and provide good examples of successful collaborations that integrate traditional cultural values and contemporary life in Hawai'i. The imaginative visions of middle school students reveal their insights on Hawaii's environment today and their dreams for tomorrow. The future of conservation and environmental leadership lies firmly in the hands our haumana, the young people of Hawai'i. This important initiative encourages, nurtures, cultivates, and promotes future generations to develop a sense of responsibility to care for and protect Hawaii's environment.

For the past nine years the Pacific Writers' Connection (PWC), the Hawai'i Conservation Alliance, and the following state and federal agencies, have co-sponsored the My Hawai'i Story Contest: